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Concept
Ferdinand von Prondzynski
Summary
Ferdinand von Prondzynski (born 30 June 1954) is a German-born Irish citizen who was the former university leader in Ireland and Scotland, a lawyer and legal academic, a high-profile public commentator and latterly a candidate Anglican cleric. Formerly the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, he previously served as the second President of Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland (2000-2010), and before that as a professor and dean at the University of Hull, and lecturer and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin.
von Prondzynski's family, then named Pradzynski, were originally of Kashubian origin. He is a direct descendant of Ferdinand von Prondzynski, a 19th-century Prussian general from Groschowitz, near Oppeln in Silesia (now Groszowice, near Opole within Poland). Konrad, his great-grandfather, previously had a square in Groszowice named after him.
Hans von Prondzynski was an officer in the German army during the Second World War, and was inter alia awarded the Iron Cross Class 1 (EK1). After the war, he lost his lands in what became part of Poland and moved to the new West Germany, where he worked in the cement-making business Dyckerhoff AG. They had four children: Isabelle, Ferdinand, Aglaja and Pia.
Ferdinand Victor Jean von Prondzynski was born at Bevensen on 30 June 1954. The family moved in 1961 into Knockdrin Castle on the Knockdrin estate near Mullingar, County Westmeath. The move, according to von Prondzynski, was due to his father's poor health, lack of funds to maintain Breese im Bruche, and a desire for a less stressful lifestyle. After a few years, Hans grew weary of farming and moved back to Germany and to Dyckerhoff AG, but the family kept their new estate in Ireland, and Hans retired to there in 1982. He died in Ireland in 1998, after a long illness. Irene von Prondzynski lived in Knockdrin until she died in 2017.
After his family moved to Ireland in 1961, Ferdinand von Prondzynski was educated at Headfort School, Kells, County Meath.
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